Khruangbin Deliver Soulful Performance at Rady Shell

Photos and words by Alex Matthews

On Tuesday April 16th, the psychedelic soul rock trio Khruangbin brought their uniquely mellow vibes to the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego, CA.  This rare general admission show at The Shell was absolutely packed with local fans and the venue buzzed with energy on this very cool April evening.  Khruangbin (which means “plane” in the Thai language) has become increasingly popular in the last few years as witnessed by the rapid growth in the size of the San Diego venues they perform at.   The band last played at SDSU’s 5000+ seat Open Air Theatre near the end of 2021, while this show at the Shell had a potential capacity of 10,000.  Alas the San Diego tradition of people talking over the top of bands at shows was unfortunately alive and well at The Shell on this evening, but most everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves regardless.

Khruangbin’s unique music features a diverse blend of musical styles like dub, rock, and R&B - mixed with world musical influences from Spain, India, and the Middle East.  The group plays incredibly relaxing compositions that are also complicated and intricate at the same time. The mostly instrumental tracks at this show were hypnotic, great to dance to, and clearly hitting the right notes with tons of San Diego fans.  Khruangbin performed two distinct sets, with the first being a full playthrough of their newest album A La Sala, just released on April 5th.  The album is mesmerizing, and the tracks are full of fantastic soothing musical ideas, however the band performed this half of their live show with relatively low energy from the back of the massive Shell stage.  The trio was lit very dimly and performed at points as silhouettes.     The 2nd half of the set however was full of energy, with bassist/vocalist Laura Lee Ochoa and Guitarist/Vocalist Mark Speer dancing, performing, and singing at the front of the stage which really engaged the capacity crowd.  Drummer DJ Johnson is a monster in the pocket laying down rock solid grooves all evening and anchoring the dancefloor.

Opening this concert was Hermanos Gutiérrez, a talented instrumental duo formed by Ecuadorian-Swiss brothers Alejandro Gutiérrez (guitar and lap steel) and Estevan Gutiérrez (guitar and percussion).  This talented group is composed quite simply of two brothers playing guitar together, but the emotion they can draw from the seemingly basic instrumentation is mind blowing.  The duo mixes Latin and folk music with a Southwestern influence that also draws from musical inspirations like Ennion Morricone’s famous western soundtracks.  The brothers were a perfect lead in at this show, with the only downside being their short set time with no chance for them to play more of their catalog.  The band has a new album coming out this year called Sonido Cosmico which is produced by The Black Keys Dan Auerbach on his Easy Eye Sound label and their 2022 album El Bueno y el Malo is fantastic and well worth a listen to anyone that appreciates guitar based music.

Hermanos Gutiérrez